Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1912)
2 SELL ADU ITERATED' TOOD BT WILLIAM ATHERTON DC PUT. THERE Is a new fight against crime going on In which the Federal Government is pitting a new or canleatlon of detectives against the unscrupulous manufacturer who sella deceptive and injurious food to the pub lie that he may wax wealthy. The crime is new and the manner of its fighting calls forth devices never used oefore. Incidentally it has developed a new class of sleuth who torlay has his fin ger on the pulse of the trade of the nation that deals in the things the people eat. Here is a recital of some of the criminals that these sleuths have run to earth and of the methods the former have used to deceive and to poison a whole nation of people, in cluding you and me. Selling Substitute Liquor. There was a certain dealer in liquors in Chicago who was waxing wealthy through his counterfeit of foreign wines and their sale as the imported, duty-paying articles. This dealer actu ally Imported a certain amount of liT quor, probably six per cent of all he old. With this as a nucleus he manu factured the duplicate of the imported goods. He manufactured duplicate bot tles to contain it and duplicate labels that were such excellent counterfeits as to make their detection difficult. His trade was unable to tell the difference between the imported and the manufac tured product. His own product was cheaper in the making and escaped duty. He was therefore able to under sell his competitors ana still make un usual profits. All of this is in violation of the pure-food and drugs act. It is crim inal deceit. Under the law the man could and should be In the penlten tiary. Now. there are 40 food inspectors in the United States and these are scat tered about, here and there, mostly in the commercial centers. These Inspec tors keep in touch with the trade. They regularly take samples ot tne import ant articles entering into commerce, have them analyzed and determine whether or not they are as represented. The reputable trade lends assistance to the inspectors and makes their work more effective. There Is no law re quiring it but most manufacturers open their establishments to the inspectors. If admission to a factory is denied an Inspector, its product is immediately put under suspicion. The inspectors stationed at Chicago suspected the given liquor dealer. He was selling at a price tnat coma not have been met by a duty-paying im porter. The inspector asked to be ad mined to the dealer's establishment and was refused. His suspicions grew stronger. Tracing a Shipment. In order to convict this dealer evi dence had to be introduced into court that showed he manufactured and sold as foreign some certain assignment of wine. This was difficult, for science is unable to tell old wine from new and part of his sales were genuine. It must be proven that a given shipment was manufactured, sold and entered into in terstate traffic, before the Federal Gov. ernment-could act. To establish this evidence an inspec tor disguised himself and, knowing something of the business, succeeded in getting employment from the deal er. He worked for weeks making out an absolute case to the effect that the wine was manufactured in Chicago, yet old outside of Illinois as imported ma terial. Eventually he personally crated some of the wine that he had helped manufacture and personally saw to its shipment into Michigan. He had def initely marked the bottles in this ship ment. When it was on its way he re signed his job and started in pursuit. He recovered the shipment from the man to whom it was assigned and his case was complete. This is among the simpler of the cases handled by these new Federal detectives There Is another which had to do with eggs that were bad and which yet found their way into the food of the people. This was more com plicated in the manner in which it was worked out by the inspectors. It is not generally known that there is an extensive Industry in eggs out of the shell. There are dessicated eggs, which means that they are dried up. Then there is the egg material that is kept frozen for long periods of time. This material Is the separated portions of white and yolks, placed in cans or tubs and kept refrigerated. This ma terial may result from the opening of good eggs, may be properly prepared and properly kept and therefore may be perfectly good for food purposes. A large per cent of bakeries buy their ergs in this condition Instead of in the shell. They are easier transported end easier kept. Illicit En Traffic. In a certain Central West city there was a large dealer who maintained a high-class establishment that handled eggs prepared in this way. He did a stupendous business and had waxed wealthy. But he had been under sus picion on several occasions and had been in danger of prosecution. Because of this he assumed to have been of fended by the pure-food inspectors and refused them admission to bi estab lishment. Now. there is another purpose to which eggs may be put besides being ERS" ARE, FROS 1' z2 GA.zjC&g't V "v-SMnfT v.. used as food. Their yolks are used In tanning fine kid gloves. They may be used for this purpose when they are so far gone that they might no longer be legitimately used as food. In a city not far distant from that in which the large egg dealer operated there was a second man who purported to deal only in eggs as tanning material. This man bought large quantities of questionable eggs at reduced prices and supposedly converted them into this tanning ma terial. The large dealer never bought any thing but high-class eggs. There seemed no reason, therefore, why his product Bhould not be all that was ex pected of it. The inspectors were able to examine the eggs he received and know them to be good. They were also able to get access to the material he sold and knew some of that to be bad. They were long puzzled to de termine wherein lay the solution of this seemingly needless sale of decayed material. Accidentally they stumbled on to the fact that the second man, who supposedly used bad eggs for tan ning purposes, was selling less of this material than would have been pro vided by the quantity, of eggs that he was buying. This led to the suspicion that he was 'selling these bad eggs as food. The inspectors searched further and discovered that the prices he was paying for these questioned eggs were higher than would have been warrant ed by the market price of the tanning material. Shadowing? an Etric. Being thus convinced that there was a strong possibility that these two dealers were working in collusion, the pure-food detectives laid about for a method of shadowing an egg In its sup posed progress through these two es tablishments to the ultimate consumer. The task was made doubly difficult because of the enmity and suspicion in which both establishments held the inspectors and their consequent ex clusion from them. These detectives are mostly educated men, many of them being college grad uates and some of them chemists of great skill. They know a lot about analysis and reactions. Science is be ing made to solve many a name since such men have taken up the business of sleuthing. In this case it served to 1 If 7 5 Ik ' THE SUNDAY Detectives Who Work for United States Government Perform Mir acles in Capturing Clever Crooks Who Would, in Their Inhuman Greed, Poison the Race for a Dollar. 4L. Sf 'fa identify eggs that were first seen in the shell and which reappeared, weeks later, an egg material in cans in var ious bakeries. The detectives were permitted to In spect c.ertain eggs that were consigned to the dealer in tanning material. Whenever they went to inspect a con signment of these eggs they did so with much advance preparation. They carried in their pockets substitute eggs which they placed In the squares of certain eggs that were to find their way Into the dealer's establishment. These substituted eggs had previously been treated with lithium iodide, val uable because of the colors it shows in the spectroscope. This material had been introduced into the egg in a way that appealed especially to the scien tific detective. The egg had been so placed that one end of It was immersed in this liquid while the other protruded into a partial vacuum. So was the liquid drawn into the shell without leaving any mark whatever upon it. The e$rgs so treated were placed among the others of the consignment This substitution was made every day for weeks. The days that followed were full ot rrr; fl l4 J. rj!- "r- .v V ' '3 'J - . . m-viw. tw- iii r?j,a ,1 jt -i i ? ""wwj.. f '-i ; fefcy- SLkantt!nifft.J. , , ,".. ... yi-rn - ij --iriiTtnin-MiS'iiri-"-" jLaii OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, S3r5fi J-iaV 4 examinations of the egg material used by the bakers of the city in which the big dealer did business. The suspicion was that lie was handling the product of the second dealer. If the egg ma terial that had gone Into the first es tablishment were found coming out of the second, the case would be estab lished. The search was for lithium iodide. Lithium iodide Is an entirely harm less material, but Its presence in the minutest particles can be detected. In this detection a spectroscope is used. When the material containing lithium iodide is viewed through this spectro scope, a certain very definite color is seen. The material would under or dinary circumstances never find its way into such material as frozen eggs. So would the fact that It was found in one batch of frozen eggs indicate that these were the same eggs into which it was introduced previously. The spectroscope revealed the fact that the introduced chemical . was steadily present in the eggs that wens being used in the baker's trade in the given large city. It proved that those eggs were coming from the foul pro duce that was being prepared, sup- JULY 28, 1912. .a 11 posably, for use in the tanning ot gloves. So was the health ot the com munity being endangered and so was an unthlnkably foul product going in to its food that a profit might be real ized by one or two men. It is such business as this that is be ing broken up by the detectives of the Department of Agriculture. The De partment, however, goes a step further and offers a remedy for the necessity of selling foul egg material. It has solved the problem of properly treat ing this egg material that it may not become foul. This method it la at tempting to teach the dealers who are Inclined to adopt better methods and whose sale of undesirable material may have been incidental and because It deteriorated while in their posses sion: A reporter on a local paper in New Jersey was talking with an employe of a meat-packing and tallow-recovering establishment that maintained an isolated plant on the Meadows. The employe remarked that there was a portion of the plant from which the public and most of the employes were excluded. The newspaper man's cur iosity was aroused and he visited the 5 1 Hi 0 5 r a establishment and attempted, without success, to go into the prohibited por tion of it. He reported his experience to one of the Federal pure-food men. Thla man was likewise denied access. He, however, determined to obtain by stealth information that hi was un able to get directly. He called for another inspector and received a young Harvard graduate who was Irish and something of a mixer. This second inspector dressed like a plugugly and became a part of the life of the community. He found the employes of the packing-house to be as merry a gang of thugs as might be imagined. He spent many even ings with them in the cheap saloons, and eventually got a Job through them of driving the dead-horse wagon for the establishment This ' establishment purported to gather up the meat scraps from res taurants, free-lunch establishments and whatever other places from which ma terial furnishing tallow might be se cured. Dead dogs, cats or horses, re gardless of the complaints from which they died, were valuable for this pur pose.. This material. In part at least, went into tallow which was exported and used in making candles. This sort of business is entirely legitimate. As a side issue, the establishment bought maimed and spavined horses and converted these into corned horse, which was exported to Holland, where horse meat is regarded as a perfectly good food. This Industry might have been entirely legitimate, too, had only healthy animals been used. The In spectors suspected that other than healthy creatures found their way into these assignments of meat and this was the matter, proof of . which they wanted to establish. Driving the Dead Horse Wagon. As driver of the dead-horse wagon, our college-bred thug inspector had every opportunity to get inside infor mation: He soon found that his em ployers gathered up the dead horses from all one end of New Jersey. He knew this because he hauled them. Wherever a horse died of violence or di sease he hurried to it and furnished the ambulance that conveyed It - to the packing-house. Likewise he noted that at regular Intervals 1 large con signments of prepared meat were con veyed to the Hoboken dock and shipped to Holland. He wanted to establish this fact that the meat of the horses Mm ?I2 that die of disease found its way Into the consignments that were shipped, This would make out a case upon which the Federal Gevernment might act The coloring method was again re sorted to. When the driver of the dead-horse wagon got an order he tipped off the resting place of the ani mal In question to another Inspector. That inspector met him over the car cass and they injected into It another harmless coloring matter that could be unquestionably identified wherever it might be again found. This material wa potassium iodides. It remained invis ible and its presence could not be de tected until It came into contact with another chemical with which it reacted, making a most vivid color even when present In only minute quantities. But these packers got suspicious. The Inspectors and taken Into their confi dence a local health authority and either through stupidity or from more unworthy motives this health officer gave the packers warning. The In spectors waited in vain for the ship ment Not until the meat was placed on board ship would they have the ne cessary legal evidence that it was en tering commerce upon which to secure a conviction. The meat was not shipped. The packers were frightened. The Inspectors, knowing- that the meat was in the packing-house upon which they had the mark that would prove its origin, turned the case over to the state authorities, the proof that it had entered inter-state or interna tional trade being impossible to estab lish. The state entered the packing house and found the meat ready for shipment It was treated with the proper chemicals and the vivid colors appeared that proved it to be made up of the flesh of the diseased horses that the disguised inspector had hauled In. A conviction was not secured because themeat had not been sold and there fore the case against the packers had not been made legally perfect After the Flour Jugglers. An even more complicated task faced the Inspectors who made out the Gov ernment's case against the flour bleach ers. The normal color of flour is yel low, but the millers have been bleach ing it for so long that the public has come to demand it in white. Wheat when ground yields four grades of ma terial, flour that Is designated as pat ent, as clear, and as red dog, and bran. The heart of the grain of wheat and that portion of it just inside the shell, is yellow. That portion between these is nearly pure starch and Is normally nearly white The mixture of the whole which is slightly yellow and known as "straight" is of greater food value than the white "patent." Were flour left in its normal condition its quality might be judged by its color. But regardiess of quality it is all bleached to a white and the public is deceived into believ ing that an inferior quality is superior. The method of bleaching is very in genious. Strong electric currents are run through given air bodies and these extract from that air nitrogen peroxide, which is a gas. This gas is introduced into chambers through which the flour passes and, uniting with the moisturei of the flour, bleaches it. Incidentally they form nitrates which are injurious when eaten. The chief claim that the Government makes against this process, however, is that It aids in deceiving the public. The pure-food inspectors were called upon to make out a case against the big millers of the West who were using this bleaching process. They were de nied entrance into the mills. This they eventually gained by masquerading as machinery salesmen. First they had mastered all the detail of milling so that they knew the meaning of the net work of flues that ran about a given mill. By a casual examination of the mill they were able to determine that the bleaching process was being used. They followed the flour that they had seen milled and bleached onto the cars and Into the interstate commerce and seized It. They won their case In the lower courts, but an appeal was grant ed and the higher court has not yet acted. The skilled work of the in spectors Is, however, already on record as evidence. Personnel of the Inspectors. There are 40 inspectors in the em ploy of Uncle Sam who are continuous ly engaged In running down violators of the pure food and drugs act That law, being enforced by the Bureau of Chemistry, these men are under that bureau, and consequently in the De partment of Agriculture. Walter G. Campbell, an active young attorney scientist is their chief. For some six years now the work has been pro gressing and developing. Much has been said about the violators of the law who were and were not prosecuted. but little has been said about the men who prpduce the evidence upon which suits may be brought These 40 are the men who produce that evidence. The evidence Is presented to the pure food board, and with the board rests the decision as to whether or not suit hall be brought. But the Inspector has, in either event, exhausted every recourse in making the case absolutely good before it has gone 'this far. The average case Is simpler than those here related. It depends, in the first place, on establishing deception In the product This may ordinarily be estab lished by the scientist by an examina tion of the given sample of the product. A very large element In the enforce ment of the law is the analysis of these samples and a determination as to whether or not they violate the act. These examinations also determine whether or not the label on the prod uct Is deceptive. If It is, the law is in that way being violated. If the sample shows deception, then there is the necessity of proving the entry Into interstate commerce. The difficulty Is not as great ordinarily as In the case of the Chicago liquor dealer, for there the local manufacture had to (Concluded on Face 6.)y